


But I'm a Superpowered Cheerleader

by anissa_qiaolian



Category: Black Lightning (TV)
Genre: Abusive Foster Family, Artist Grace, F/F, High School AU, Slow Burn, cheerleader Anissa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2019-11-28 08:52:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18206270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anissa_qiaolian/pseuds/anissa_qiaolian
Summary: slow burn high school au featuring our favorite girls? check.





	1. Chapter 1

Grace Choi’s first day at Garfield just happened to be on rally day. Just her luck: she’d found a new reason to be away from her foster home, but it just so happened to be a modified day and a week before Homecoming.

She’d only moved to Freeland two weeks ago with her foster parents. They got more government aid from living in an “underprivileged” aka black neighborhood such as this one.

Grace sighed from her spot on the bleachers. She should’ve been in art class right now. But a star student was running for Homecoming Queen and the teacher made them head to the gym as soon as the bell rang, so Grace was sitting in front.

Whatever.

The lights dimmed and students in the front at least pretended to put down their phones as the music started.

Missy Elliot’s “Pep Rally” blared from the speakers by Grace’s head. Subtle music choice by the Garfield High cheer squad.

The cheerleaders sashayed out from the far sides of the gym, walking in two lines until they met in the middle and began their routine.

_It goes left foot_  
_It goes right foot_  
_It goes left foot…_

When the beat dropped they all started crumping. Grace’s eye caught one girl in particular; the cheerleader in front who seemed to be leading the squad, but not really placing herself as the center of attention.

Maybe that’s why she caught Grace’s.

The girls formed two pyramids, and the cheerleaders left over (including the one she was watching) did front flips and handsprings in time with the music.

_Bounce biggity bounce biggity biggity bounce bounce_  
_All my clappers and stomp_  
_With it_

The other students were hyping them up now too, standing up from their seats and cheering as cheerleaders on top of the pyramid did perfect backflips and danced along to the music.

In all the schools her foster families had forced her to attend, Garfield certainly had the best school spirit. And they danced on beat.

The cheerleaders formed two lines again, this time with her girl not in sight, and the music faded into “Binz” by Solange.

A different set of girls walked in, dressed in all black tops and leggings, and began doing a slower, but still rhythmic dance to the new song.

They weren’t holding any pom poms or anything, so Grace figured they were different from the cheerleaders. But their movements were still just as graceful.

Two of them were clearly leading the pack, twirling slightly ahead of the other girls who stayed in a circular formation.

_I just wanna wake up to the suns_  
_And Saint Laurent_  
_Hundred thousand dollars on the fronts_  
_And the blunts_

They took turns sharing the spotlight, acting out the lyrics with their hands while swaying their hips to Solange’s voice.

_Sun down, wind chimes_  
_Break it down, one line, a line_

_Dollars never show up on CP time_  
_I just wanna wake up on CP time_

The music started to remix itself into Missy Elliot’s “Lose Control” and the students loved it. Almost everyone was out of their seats by the time both groups of dancers did their routine together.

Some girls in the row behind her were practically screaming the first verse, but it didn’t bother Grace at all at this point. She was kind of starting to enjoy this thing.

_I got a cute face_  
_Chubby waist, thick legs, in shape_  
_Rump shakin’, bone blazin’_

“MAKE YOU DO A DOUBLE TAKE!”

Grace couldn’t even describe the level of skill these dancers had. They were moving lighting fast, twirling and shaking and stepping in synchronized rhythm.

The students on the bleachers were doing their own dances, and some had to be told by their teachers to settle down. It was the ‘peppiest’ thing Grace had seen probably ever.

The cheerleader she’d been watching came out of nowhere then and tapped Grace on the shoulder, asking her to get up and dance with her. Some other dancers had broken out of formation and done the same, leading students from the audience to a soul train line on the floor.

Grace was completely speechless. This girl was even more beautiful up close.

Like almost everyone at Garfield she was Black, and her hair was in two long braids parted along the bottom and top halves of her head. She wasn’t wearing much makeup, apart from a layer of foundation, eyeliner, and some glitter along her cheekbones in the school’s colors, blue and yellow.

Her smile made Grace weak in the knees and she momentarily forgot how to speak. The cheerleader didn’t mind it though, and she gently led Grace over to where the rest of the dancers were gathered, swaying her hips along the way.

Grace couldn’t take her eyes away from her skirt.

The cheerleader was friendly the whole time they danced together, and Grace wanted to start a conversation, but between the music and the energy in the gym she knew she wouldn’t be able to. Grace leaned into her for a moment and caught a soft scent of vanilla.

The dance ended and Grace was being led back to her seat by the same cheerleader, way too soon for her liking.

The music started to transition again into Amerie’s “One Thing”, and Grace wondered just how much energy these dancers had to keep going like this. But the song was clearly signaling the end of that part of the rally, and most of the dancers and cheerleaders headed over to the bleachers once they finished freestyling.

A few of them headed out of different exits, though, probably to get changed. Her cheerleader was one of them.

The energy in the gym was still pretty hype, and whoever had taken over the mic, a teacher Grace hadn’t met yet, waited patiently for the kids to settle down.

“Who’s ready for Homecoming next weekend?”

The students erupted in cheers again and the man laughed. “All right, guys. I know y’all are ready to go to lunch but we need to announce to court. First up: you know her, you love her, you just watched her tear it up with the cheer squad…Garfield High please give it up for Anissa Pierce!”

The gym exploded in cheers, and the two dancers next to Grace were by far the loudest.

“Go Anissa!”

“THAT’S MY SISTER!”

A spotlight appeared in the corner of the gym where her cheerleader and a few other students had disappeared to. Grace nearly fell out of her seat when the cheerleader she’d been dancing with stepped in it, wearing a shimmering gold gown that flowed around her legs, with strappy gold heels that crisscrossed around her calves. Her muscles flexed as she walked gracefully to the center of the gym and smiled that dazzling smile again.

Grace was out of her seat and clapping before she even knew what she was doing.

She saw Anissa smile her way and for a moment her heart stopped. Then she realized the girl was just waving at her sister and she deflated. She sat down again and the teacher continued reading from a notecard as Anissa waved at other people.

“Anissa is an honor student here at Garfield. She’s also captain of the Bobcats Cheer Squad, president of the Student Health Club, and treasurer of the Humane Arts Society. In her free time Anissa volunteers at the health clinic on 31st under the mentorship of Reverend Holt. When Anissa graduates in the spring (class of 2019 make some noise!), she plans to be at UCLA, which has, quote, ‘the dopest medical program in the country’. Ladies and gentlemen please give it up again for homecoming hopeful, Miss Anissa Pierce.”

It just occurred to Grace that she was principal’s daughter. Grace had been to his office just this morning as he looked over her paperwork and welcomed her to Garfield. She knew now that she recognized Anissa and her sister from the family portrait on his desk. She had no idea the principal’s daughters would be part of the rally today.

Let alone that one of them was running for Homecoming Queen.

The rest of the court was announced and Grace found herself tuning out. The energy in the gym lessened as well, though there will still plenty of cheers for the other students.

Grace did find it interesting, however, that Anissa was the only one who walked without an escort.

The rally ended and the students were sent straight to lunch. Grace thought about introducing herself to Anissa for real this time, but when she saw the girl surrounded by the rest of the cheer squad and a bunch of other athletes she chickened out and chose to eat alone instead.

The bell rang and Grace rushed to her Anatomy class.

She fiddled with the busted zipper on her backpack until she heard rustling beside her. She looked up to see Anissa Pierce smiling shyly at her, one strap of her backpack slung over her shoulder.

“Are you Grace?”

Grace stared at her. Suddenly she remembered where she was and choked out, “Uh yeah, yeah I am. Hi.”

Anissa smiled brightly and held out her hand. Grace shook it and blushed.

“Hi Grace. I’m Anissa, your new lab partner. Mr. Henderson told me it was your first day. How do you like Garfield so far?”

Grace looked over to the teacher’s desk and saw the same man who called Anissa’s name at the rally writing the day’s agenda on the board. She turns back to Anissa’s patient face.

“Yeah, it- it is my first day. Um, Garfield is really nice. You guys have awesome pep rallies.”  
Anissa beamed and Grace clutched the strands of her backpack even tighter.

“Thanks! I wasn’t sure about the routine at first, but I think it came together really well.”

“Yeah, it did. You looked amazing. The whole squad did, I mean. And the dancers. Are they- are they part of the team too?”

Anissa didn’t seem to find Grace’s blabbering weird at all. In fact, the two of them continued with their conversation until the final bell rang and Mr. Henderson started class.

For the rest of the day, all Grace could think about was Anissa Pierce. She kept Anissa in her head as she walked home that day, then again as she entered her foster parent’s apartment. They didn’t notice Grace when she walked in, caught up in another one of their arguments.

She put on her headphones and blasted Missy Elliot’s Greatest Hits to drown out the sound of breaking glass.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'm back with this story you guys :)) so sorry it took so long, i didnt want to leave anyone hanging but i honestly could not find inspo for this story for a long time. i didnt really know how to start chapter 2 and that kept me from writing it for so long, but once i connected the music like for chapter 1 it really helped me get into the flow of writing this again. also i just really missed my pierce fam <33
> 
> as a note: kiesha's last name apparently is listed as Henderson, and idk if her and inspector henderson are related in the show, but in this story she is his daughter

Anissa woke up to Stay Flo by Solange.

She brushed her teeth to Good Morning from one of Kanye’s good albums (corny, she knows, but a bop is a bop and Anissa’s ears don’t discriminate.) She stands over her closet and thinks about today’s outfit. Its spirit week at Garfield, and today’s spirit day challenge is just to wear the school colors. That’s easy enough.

She sets out her cheer uniform and puts extra glitter on her eyelids.

Anissa meets the rest of her family at the dinner table, where her dad is helping her mom set the table. Jen sits on her phone, most likely texting Kiesha. She is not wearing her spirit clothes today and instead wears her all black dance uniform.

“Way to show Bobcat spirit, Jen.” Anissa comes down the stairs and helps her mom place the silverware. After Jen sees her helping she reluctantly puts the extra food in the freezer. Jen rolls her eyes at Anissa.

“This is school spirit. I’m wearing my dance uniform, aren’t I? Besides, it’s not like throwing on that outfit took a lot of effort either. You bringing your pom poms too Harriet?”

Anissa glowered at her younger sister and Jefferson sat down between them. “That’s enough, girls,” he said with a stern Dad look, “No more fighting at the dinner table.”

He looked over at Lynn to bless the food. When they finished bowing their heads in prayer she looked up at Jen with raised eyebrows. “Honestly Jennifer, I’m surprised you’re doing spirit week at all this year. Last year you thought you were too cool.”

Jen took a big bite of her eggs and tried to hide a smile.

“Well, Khalil is finally gonna ask me to Homecoming so I need to make sure I look nice and ‘spirited’ when he does. For when it’s recorded and put on Instagram.”

“Wait, how do you he’s asking you to Homecoming?”, Anissa asks. Jen shrugs.

“I checked his Twitter.”

She takes another bite of her food. “But speaking of Homecoming…”

Jen trails off with a smirk and Anissa frowns, knowing her little sister is digging around for something. Jeff shoots both his daughters a confused look. “What?”

Anissa glares down at her plate and says nothing while Jennifer smirks. “Anissa doesn’t have a date yet.” Anissa’s frown deepens and Lynn looks up at her with sympathy.

“I’m sorry about that, sweetheart.” Lynn says. “You haven’t been able to find anyone you want to take?”

Anissa shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know what to do, Mom. Homecoming is next weekend and I still have no idea who I’m going with. I’m the only girl on court without a date.”

“Well that’s not so bad,” her father shrugs, “Plenty of kids are just going with their friends now.”

All three of the women looked at Jefferson like he’d grown a third eye on his forehead and he raised his hands. “Ok now why are you all looking at me like that? is it so outrageous to fly solo nowadays?”

Anissa shook her head.  

“I cannot go to Homecoming by myself Dad”, she told him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m the only gay girl on Homecoming court and it would be…bad optics for the _one_ lesbian in Garfield’s senior class to go stag. Especially since I’m trying to get crowned.”

Jefferson nodded as he seemed to get her point, but Anissa could tell her Dad still thought she was overreacting from the look on his face. “So what you’re saying is, no one’s gonna take you seriously as a lesbian unless you have a date?”

“That’s not what I’m saying, Dad!”

Jefferson resumed eating his food with a smirk and Anissa suddenly got the point of his question. Of course he was trying to turn this into some Sunday School lession about self-worth and acceptance by making her question her own logic. Well whatever.

She wasn’t gonna be the Queen of Garfield without a girl by her side.

“So.” Her dad tries to change the subject. “Have you guys met the new girl yet? She’s in your grade, Anissa.”

Anissa nodded and swallowed a bite of eggs. “Grace. Yeah, she’s in Mr. Henderson’s class with me. She’s actually my new lab partner. She seems really cool.”

Jennifer looked up from her phone. “Wait, is she that Asian chick I saw you dancing with at the rally yesterday?”

The family all shot Jen an annoyed look and she shrugged. “What? She is honest to god the _only_ Asian at our school. Why is everyone looking at me funny just because I said something about it.”

“You will say nothing about it when you get to school, do you hear me?”

Jefferson waited until she pouted and nodded before adding, “Ms. Choi is already coming to a new school halfway through her senior year. Imagine being the only person of your race on top of that. Living in a neighborhood like this we all know what that’s like.”

The family nodded silently. Despite Freeland being a majority Black town, the Pierces still lived in the nicer suburban area and were in fact the only Black family on their entire street. Only Kiesha and Mr. Henderson lived in this area, a few blocks down from their house.

Anissa found herself thinking about Grace when she got to school that day.

She knew she would see the girl again in 5th period, since that was the class they had together, but something about what her Dad had said at breakfast that morning could not leave her mind.

Grace must have felt so lonely, being the new girl at a time like this, and here Anissa was, stressing out about the biggest problem in her life right now which was finding a date for homecoming. Maybe she should invite Grace to hang out with her during lunch.

“Anissa!”

She turned away from her locker to see Tatiana and Chelsea, two sophomore girls on the cheer squad, calling her name in the hallway.

“What’s up guys?”

Tatiana squealed and shoved her phone in Anissa’s hand. “Yo look at this”, she said excitedly. “Our routine went viral on IG and Twitter. Somebody even said that Missy Elliot liked the tweet on the original post, but I’ll believe that bullshit when I see it.”

“What?” Anissa was stunned. _Her routine vent viral??_

“Girl, let me see that!”

It was true. “Oh my god.”

Anissa could barely process her excitement before Chelsea butted in. “OK so what’s our next move, miss Cheer Captain? Megan just dropped her new EP and I’ve been dying to bounce ass to Simon Says.”

Anissa gave the girl a dry look.

“Y’all know my dad is not about to let us dance to Megan Thee Stallion at a rally Chels, stop playing. Or City Girls”, Anissa added as Chelsea opened her mouth to say something else.

Still, she had a lot of planning to do. Garfield was getting on the map now.

Anissa was so busy with planning the next routine with the girls at lunch that she didn’t realize until she showed up to Anatomy that she had forgotten to do something very, very important.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is short af im sorry :/ i really wanted to get grace's perspective on things  
> we're gonna see more of her home life very soon :)

She should have known not to get attached this quickly.

How stupid was she to think that Anissa Pierce, the Princess of Garfield that was running for Queen, all-star cheerleader and future humanitarian would notice a girl like her. She was just being polite. It was stupid to think they could be friends.

Grace takes her seat in fifth period and tries very hard not to stare at Anissa Pierce.

She’s back in her cheer uniform, for spirit day, and she looks so fucking beautiful it makes Grace’s heart hurt. She’s even put extra glitter on her eyelids.

Grace didn’t feel like being social this period, so she was thankful that Mr. Henderson gave them independent work today.

Lab partners were still allowed to collaborate though. Anissa asked her a couple questions about the assignment and Grace answered them politely before returning to her work. Anissa probably didn’t even notice Grace’s change in attitude; her eyes were distracted from the moment the bell rang.

At the end of the period Anissa offered to walk both their papers to the front; Grace said no. She didn’t need any more charity work from the almost Queen of Garfield.

Grace turned in her paper and rushed to her last class of the day without looking back.

In her seventh period class, World History for Seniors, Grace struggled to pay attention. It was normally a boring class anyway. Miss Fowdy was more concerned with her makeup than the boring videos she made them watch, and Grace was doodling on her sketchpad before the period was even halfway over.

She drew absentmindedly, not thinking about anything particular as her pencil stroked the cheap paper. Her sketchpad was a crusty little thing she’d swiped from the art supply closet when the teacher wasn’t looking. They were raggedy and she was going to throw them away on Friday, anyway. Or even worse, she was going to donate them the Children’s Center on 31st. No kid deserved to have third-rate art supplies.

Except for, well…her.

But that was different. Foster kids didn’t deserve shit, according to her foster mother. They were lucky they had a roof to live in and clothes in their stomachs.

A bitter snort formed in Grace’s throat. A kid next to her eyed her curiously until Grace shot him a glare that made him turn his head fast.

Of course her shitty foster mom and her equally shitty boyfriend who only kept Grace around for a check would think that basic human necessities were like toys that would only be given to kids who _behaved._

The bell rang and Grace looked up from her drawing.

Anissa Pierce looked up at her with cute, happy eyes that were dotted with glitter.


End file.
